h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I had half an hour to kill last night between shopping and picking up J from dance class. So I found a Starbucks. And then was horrified to discover that I didn't have my kindle with me! It usually resides in my handbag, and I'm rather surprised at how quickly it's become one of my "must carry at all times" items.

Other things in my handbag slightly unusual include:

1. A fan. Bought in Shanghai. Being a lady of a certain age, my body temperature fluctuates wildly, and when the heat is on, the fan comes out and flutters demurely. Very effective!

2. Almonds. Part of my weight loss regimen was reducing my crisp addiction, and finding a healthy alternative with the same crunch factor. Almonds are high in protein, and lots of other good stuff, and taste good at any time. As an alternative, I carry roast soy beans, particularly as soy is good for us ladies of a certain age.... You can hear me coming, I rattle when I walk.

3. Good tweezers. I find the odd pluck very therapeutic.

That's just made me want to eat crisps now.

B

Made me fancy a starbucks.

Surely if you are a lady of a certain age you handbag or purse will contain postage stamps.

Mine doesn't.

Bought a sachet? Sleeve? folder? of 12 second class yesterday to post thank you cards for wedding presents! Yes, I can usually be relied upon to be able to produce a stamp when required.

What about the rest? The lipstick that fires poison pellets that you carry in case of capture? The two-way transmitter disguised as a box of tic-tacs? The emergency remote control for Max?

there was another of those muffled conversations at work yesterday between two Koreans who work here all the time and a very senior one who is here for 3 months. I heard my name, I saw them look. They looked down at a small black box in their hands with wires coming out. They looked at me again.

In anticipation I got my screwdriver out (it's great, it has 4 heads, small & tiny flat-head, small & tiny philips) the visitor was surprised, the other two just shook their heads...

I also have a flexible measuring thing, the usual sewing kit stuff, safety pins, swiss army knife, small ball of string, emergency book, spare USB sticks and SD cards etc etc. And those CSI stylee gloves and some other first aid type stuff.

Oh and stamps. Am I now a woman of a certain age? (must get a fan, good tip Bea)

I have all those thing but being bloke I forget my bag

Essential handbag contents?

A small packet of wet wipes.

I've come over all jealous of Sho's handbag.

haha - jealous of my bag? it's bright pink...

wetwipes? check
hand sanitiser? check
spare headphones? check
and one of my favourite things: double jack for the headphones so I can make the gruesomes shut up about having to listen to Radio4 in the car? check
toothbrush and mini tube of toothpaste? check
spare tights and knickers? yes
make up...
basically, I could go away for a weekend or an overnighter without having to think too much about it.

oh and I just found an LED torch and a packet of tic-tacs that I'd forgotten about.

I remember everyone laughing at my torch until someone dropped something in a very dark Karaoke bar and had to borrow it

Sho, you ARE my grandmother.

Sho I did an entry a long time ago about handbags ... and your contents could have been up there with the best of them.

you could be right, MrsZ - are you wearing your vest? do your jacket up it's cold...

Fizzy - if your entry was sparked by a convo in Ask that i'm sure we had, I'm pretty sure I must have contributed!! definitely we've had the "Sho has a socket set in her bag" convo here before!

Well my entry dates back to 2007 A17719374 but my little search brought up your handbag conversation in Dec 2010 F19585?thread=7955449&skip=0&show=20

There we go, isn't it loverly to have working searches?

Does it not weigh a ton?

it's heavy-ish. But, most of the things in it are small versions, or travel versions of things so not very heavy. (my bag is one of those Longchamp ones, so it's big but it's not super huge)

and how I love that the search function works. It is just so totally I don't have the words

I must start carrying a socket set around in my bag.

What’s in mine? Well, when I changed my bag I had to slim down; I was carrying round a load of crap.

Kindle
Diary
Keys
My mobile phones
My purse (the thing I keep money in, for the Americans)
Lip gloss
Lip balm
Perfume
iPod

... not a lot when you compare it to my last one.

I need to rationalise my bag. But the last time I took something out (torch, I think it was) i needed it two days later, and of course I didn't have it.

I have a little gizmo I got in Brookstone in the States which has knife, pliers, cross-head screwdriver, flat-head screwdriver, torch and crappy saw all in one.